$6,000 a Year: What I Wish I Knew About Getting Ahead

You're good at your job. Maybe even great.

But being good doesn't mean you'll get rewarded.

I learned this the hard way when I was 22, working as an auditor, making $6,000 a year.

That year, I generated six figures in revenue for my firm. My raise? From $6,000 a year to $9,000 a year. On paper, a 50% increase. In reality, a slap in the face.

I thought being good meant being sharp with numbers, spotting problems, understanding systems. Technical skill. That's what I believed success looked like.

Then I noticed something.

The highest-paid seniors weren't the smartest. They weren't the ones who aced their exams. They were the ones who worked on the most client files. The ones who generated the most billable hours. The ones who made the firm the most money.

That's when it clicked: Your reward is not tied to how good you think you are, or how good you look on paper. It's tied to how much revenue you can prove you created.

In most jobs, you can't prove it. Your contribution gets buried in spreadsheets, team efforts, and corporate politics.

So I asked myself: Where in business can I directly tie my work to the top line?

Sales or marketing.

I chose marketing because I was painfully introverted. Cold calls sounded like torture. But writing? Campaigns? Data? That I could do.

But the decision wasn't enough. I had to change who I was.

I stopped seeing myself as someone who accepts reality. I became someone who questions it.

I started browsing job sites in the U.S. Not to apply. Just to see what marketers over there were making. I needed to know what was possible beyond my small world.

I went from a hustler with small dreams to a hustler who refused to accept his current reality as the ceiling.

Here's what I wish someone had told me back then.

I thought once I could prove my value, the money would follow. I thought if I showed my boss the revenue I generated, they'd reward me.

They didn't.

You are in your current environment because the people around you think they can afford the current you.

Read that again.

The moment your value grows, most of them can't accommodate it. They don't have the budget. They don't have the vision. They hired you at one level, and that's where they want to keep you.

If you want to make more, you have to find people who value what you've become. Not what you were when they met you.

That means constantly looking. Constantly networking. Not waiting until you're out of a job to start the search.

So why am I writing this?

Because over 12 years, I went from making $6,000 a year as an auditor to building a marketing agency that hit $100k a month in revenue. Small team. No burnout. Work I actually enjoy.

And I'm still figuring things out.

This newsletter is for marketers who want more than a paycheck. Who want to build something. Who want freedom, not just income.

Every issue, I'll share one system, one insight, or one lesson. No fluff. Just notes from someone a few steps ahead on the same path.

Here's your first one:

Audit your current job this week. How far are you from where you actually want to be? Is the path you're on going to get you there?

If the answer is no, stop waiting. Start looking.